


Closer to Fine

by adampascalfan



Category: Glee
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-22
Updated: 2014-09-22
Packaged: 2018-02-18 08:32:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2341838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/adampascalfan/pseuds/adampascalfan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tina's plan for the perfect prom night went completely wrong. Much like the rest of her senior year. But maybe the after prom activities can turn it around. Written after "Tina in the Sky With Diamonds' and for my need to see the girls of New New Directions have a slumber party.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Closer to Fine

Standing in the Waffle House parking lot, still in Kitty’s borrowed dress, Tina accepted a hug from Ryder and Jake as the goodbyes began.  Ever since they walked her back into the gym as her honorary royal court (as Artie had dubbed them), the rest of the New Directions hadn’t strayed from her side.  Marley, Unique and Kitty had pulled her out to join them when Blaine and Sam performed _Spice Up Your Life_.  (She had her suspicions about exactly when they decided to do that particular song for one of their numbers, but in the end the video she and Marley managed to capture on their cell phones was worth it.  Tina was currently trying to decide if they should send the video to Kurt now or wait to air it at the wedding reception.) She didn’t miss a single slow dance because none of the guys would let her sit one out.   And when the last song was finally performed (Unique’s bring-the-house-down version of _If This Isn’t  Love_ ) every last one of them stood in a circle, held on to each other and swayed in time with the rhythm.   When Artie had declared his need for smothered and covered hash browns, Tina didn’t even remember a discussion.  Somehow everyone ended up crammed into one tiny booth: laughing, taking too many pictures to count and trying to not get a single stain on their formal wear (The fact Sam,Ryder and Jake managed a ketchup war without so much as spilling a drop on their rented tuxedos was something that Tina was never going to forget).

She hadn’t wanted the night to end but the reality of curfews was calling them all.  And there was one thing she still hadn’t figured out; how exactly she was going to explain to her parents why she was in a completely different dress from the one she left in.  Tina doubted her parents would be up, but her slushie-destroyed dress was going to be hard to miss.  Not to mention,  she was going to make sure to clean Kitty’s dress before returning it to her.  The night may have ended on a good note, but Tina wasn’t exactly in a hurry to recap it for her parents, who were sure to be furious.  After all, that dress cost a small fortune.  Tina was surprised that her parents didn’t ask her for the blood of her first born in exchange for the privilege to wear it.

“You ok, T?” Blaine asked wrapping his arm around her shoulders.  Tina smiled as she leaned back against him.

“I’m good. I just don’t exactly want to go home. I don’t want to give explanations just yet.”

“Maybe Coach Sue or Mr. Schue already called them.” Blaine offered hopefully.

Tina chuckled and elbowed him lightly in his side.  “Blainey, I love you but you are giving Mr. Schue way too much credit.  When has he ever called our parents with news good or bad?”

“Ok, point taken.” Blaine released his grip and twirled her around to face him.  “If you aren’t up to explanations tonight you could always stay at my place.”

Tina leaned up to kiss his cheek. “You’re sweet, but Sam might kill you for that.  I know you two were going to stay up all night watching all the XMen movies so he can perfect his Hugh Jackman impression.”

“I could probably convince him _Kate and Leopold_ would be a great addition to the list if you wanted to come.”

Tina giggled.  “I have no doubt you could, but no.  I’ll have to explain it to them at some point.  Might as well be sooner rather than later.”

“Tina?” Marley’s quiet voice came from behind her.  As Tina turned around, she caught sight of Unique and Kitty urging Marley on.  With a shy smile Marley, waved a little at Blaine.  “I don’t know if you want to, and we would totally understand if you just want to go home and sleep for the rest of the weekend, but Kitty and Unique were already planning on coming to my house for a sleepover.  You’re welcome to come too if you want.”

Tina tried not to let the fact this was clearly a plan she was once again excluded from sting.  She probably deserved it.  For most of the year she had been nothing but a bitch to the younger girls.  And yet, they had still raced to help her and offered the dresses off their backs for her.  And here they were again offering a life-line, even if they didn’t know it.  “I didn’t bring anything to change into.” Tina offered quietly gesturing to the dress.  “This isn’t exactly the most comfortable thing to sleep in.”

“Oh, don’t  worry about that. Unique does not understand the concept of packing lightly.  And you can borrow anything you want from me.” Marley started to bounce up and down.  “And mom is making her world-famous pancakes in the morning.  You can’t miss those.”  Marley leaned closer to whisper.  “Kitty may have hinted to Jake and Artie they would look like horrible boyfriends if they didn’t surprise us with coffee on the morning after prom so who knows what else they’ll bring once they figure out their both bringing coffee.”

“Kitty has to teach me how she does that.” Tina laughed.

“Say you’ll come and we’ll make her.”

Chewing her bottom lip, Tina looked back at Blaine who offered a supportive smile.  The choice was hers.  If she really wanted to, Blaine would interrupt his plans with Sam, no questions asked.  But Sam would hate it and hate her for ruining his plans for senior prom. Again.  Not screwing up his after-prom plans was probably the least she could do for Sam.  And Marley at least looked like she really did want her to come.  And the Grease cast slumber party, this year was pretty fun.  “Ok. Let me just call my mom to tell her where I’ll be and I’ll come.”

“Great.” Marley jumped up and down before capturing Tina in a hug.  “Unique’s going to drive us over. You came with Kitty and Artie right? Kitty can tell him you’re coming with us. This is going to be great!”

As Marley skipped across the parking lot to tell the other girls the plans, Tina started to search through her purse for her phone.  “You sure about this?  You can always come with me.” Blaine offered.  “I promise you Sam won’t mind.”

“He’ll completely mind but won’t mention it.” Tina corrected.  “And when we did this during _Grease_ it was fun. Even if I didn’t want to admit it.  I’ll be fine.  I’ll call you tomorrow and we’ll do lunch or something.”

“Ok if you are sure. “ Blaine hugged her one last time.  “You were a star tonight Miss Cohen-Chang.”

“And you were a prince, Blaine Anderson.” Tina sighed into his shoulder before shoving him back.  

“Now go have fun with Sam.  Just promise me when you tell Kurt about this, you’ll convince him to not send me tips on how to save the dress. I don’t want to look at it again.”

“I’m engaged to him, not a miracle worker.  But I will try.”  Blaine gave her hand a squeeze.  “Have fun with the girls.”

“Come on, Tina” Kitty yelled from across the parking lot. “If we leave now we’ll have time to hit the all night Krogers to get stuff for cookies!”

Being a part of a group of girls giggling their way through a grocery store in the early-morning hours in formal wear getting ingredients to make cookies? Now that was the way a prom night was supposed to end.  Smiling, Tina started towards the group by the car Unique had borrowed from her father. “I’m coming. Prom Queen calls shotgun.”

******

Forty-five minutes later, Marley pushed a cookie sheet into the oven before closing the door with her hip.  Unique reached over to lightly slap at Kitty’s hand with her spoon, catching her trying to sneak some of the batter.  “Don’t make me do that again.” Unique warned raising her spoon and shaking it in Kitty’s direction.

Kitty rolled her eyes before sitting back down next to Tina.  “Ok that wannabe Isis who can’t bring anything on did not set up your entire nomination.  I mean unless she had some deep seeded desire to recite a viral email to me, why would she do that?”

Tina shrugged her shoulders before hugging her knees to her chest.  Marley’s sweatpants  and Unique’s “ _specially designated for the during portion of sleepover makeovers_ ” t-shirt were as comfortable as they had looked.  She pushed a piece of hair behind her ears.  “It wouldn’t be the first time this school set out to humiliate someone at prom.”

“But you said Kurt was a write in candidate.” Marley argued.  “And Principal Sylvester made that big announcement banning in write in candidates this year.  You were actually nominated.”

“And Bree is straight up evil.” Unique added with a firm nod of her head.  “That girl does not play the Nice To Your Face game. Trust me.”

“She’s one of the ones that’s been harassing you?” Kitty asked.  “That’s it. Monday I’m putting Nair in her shampoo bottle.”

“Kitty, she’s going to know it’s you.” Marley said,, shaking her head.  “You’ve used that threat a few too many times.”

“Excuse you I’m sneaky.”

“It’s only you and Blaine on the Cheerios with her.  She’ll know it’s you.” Marley argued.

“Blaine will do it for me.” Kitty said with an air finality.  “No one would ever suspect him.”

Tina snorted out a giggle.  “I love Blaine,”

“Yeah, we know that.” Kitty interrupted, while Marley and Unique dissolved into giggles.

Tina reached out and smacked Kitty on the arm and stuck her tongue out towards the giggling girls across the table. “I love him but he is the exact opposite of subtle.   How exactly do you think he would be able to switch out a shampoo bottle she keeps in her _gym_ locker?”

“Demonstrating a new cheer routine to Coach Roz that requires him to sing and dance all through the locker room. Duh.    He’s already mentioned doing something to _Come and Get It_ so my plan is flawless.”

“Your plan is something.” Tina admitted. “But don’t.  She’ll just strike back and then everything will be right back to where it was when I was a freshman.   It’s not worth it.”

“It is worth it.” Kitty argued back.  “Bree doesn’t get to decide that the glee club isn’t good enough to produce prom queens.  She doesn’t get to decide that Arthur isn’t good enough for me to date.  She needs to get to church and find Jesus quick or I will take her to a different kind of church.”

“No. Not you.” Unique corrected. “All of us. We will all take her to church.  What she did to your wonderful dress Tina was a crime.  A capital offense.  As The Fashion Gods as my witness, Unique will have that dress avenged.”

“And she’s always awful to my mom in the lunch line.” Marley chimed in, reaching across the table to grab Tina’s hands.  “She’s terrible and we need to do something.”

Unique and Kitty nodded in agreement, covering Marley’s hands with their own.  With a slow smile Tina put her free hand on top of the pile.  She wasn’t sure when exactly it happened but these girls had become her friends.  And she was going to miss them in the fall.  “Did we just become a real life version of the Pink Ladies?” She asked.

The oven-timer went off as they all began to laugh.  Marley jumped up to take the cookies out of the oven and Unique shook her head.  “I do not mind the matching outfits, but we have to find something better than pink polyester jackets.  That is a look that does none of us any favors.  What we need is something in majestic purple so all recognize the queens that we are as we walk down the halls.”

“And we need a better name than the Purple Ladies.  It’s as unoriginal as Jordan’s dress tonight.” Kitty added. “Plus, I think Nightbird would revoke our Superhero status for not coming up with a kickass Superhero collective name.”

“You mean like the Avengers?” Marley asked as she transferred the cookies to the cooling rack.

“Yes, but that’s copyright infringement and you know what a stickler Nightbird is about that.” Kitty nodded with a roll of her eyes.  “We can text him and Blonde Chameleon tonight.  They’re having a geek night.  It’s nice to give them a project so they don’t end up planning on how to get every Ohio show choir to drive to New York so they can convince Kurt elopement is a great idea.  I can explain to my parents about Dalton and Carmel.  I can’t explain New York”

****

“This movie is the greatest. I can’t believe I’ve never watched it before.” Marley sighed as she reached over to the laptop Unique brought along.  “Why have we never watched it before?”

“I brought it with me to Kitty’s party.” Unique shrugged while filing her nails. “But at the time you my dear were all in denial about your feelings about one Mr. Jake Puckerman.  And a dance movie wasn’t the best idea.”

“You think we could convince Mr. Schue to do a tribute to _Girls Just Wanna Have Fun_ featuring a dance solo by Jake for Nationals?”  Marley wondered.

“It’s Mr.Schue. We could probably convince him to do a Sesame Street tribute so long as he thought we would win.” Kitty rolled her eyes as she continued to braid Tina’s hair.  “Didn’t Arthur mention something about wanting to do a senior prank tonight?”

“Yeah.” Tina closed her eyes as she relaxed under Kitty’s fingers.  “Some sort of bet he has with Puck.”

“Then I think we have a suggestion for him.  A New Directions style pep rally before Nationals featuring nothing but songs we have no intentions of performing.”

“And that’s different from a usual pep rally we don how?” Tina wondered. Kitty pulled her braid playfully.  “Trust me. Mr.Schue will change his mind five times on the way to LA as to what our set list will be.  FYI, Blaine is probably going to call a meeting in the auditorium this week.  So we have start thinking about songs.”

****  
  


“I still can’t figure out how you all beat my award-winning performance last year considering Mr. Schue is so….Mr. Schue.” Unique waved one hand while examining a shade of purple for Marley’s toes.  “Jesse St. James was a certifiable if devastatingly handsome headcase but at least we knew our set list more than two days in advance.”

“Rachel and Finn, well mainly Rachel, would be pushing for songs for competitions months in advance. And by the time we got to competition surprisingly those songs Rachel and Finn suggested we had prepared and were really good.  Mr. Schue only thinks he ever planned a set list.” Tina shrugged.  “Of course that didn’t mean there weren’t all-out fights about the songs.  Everyone had their own opinions on what songs would work and the louder you yelled to talk over Rachel and Finn….the better your odds.”

“Sounds like a lot of yelling.” Marley pulled a face as she shook her head.

“Yelling. Backstabbing.  I think we averaged at least one dramatic walk-out of glee club meeting a week.”

“So basically Mr.Schue was so distracted by all the drama that he never noticed he didn’t actually plan a setlist.” Kitty nodded her head as she put the finishing touches on Tina’s braid.  “So much now makes sense.”

“I’m glad we don’t work that way.” Marley grabbed another cookie as Unique started painting her big toe. “No offense Tina. I know they are all your friends, but I like the way we work.”

“Confession?  I’m starting to like it too.” Tina smiled sadly.  “I didn’t really say thank you for what you all did for me tonight.”

“Did you think we were going to let you just run out alone?” Unique raised her eyebrow as she took her eyes of Marley’s toes.  “”No woman should be alone to cry over the destruction of couture like that.”

“But you didn’t have to.  It was your prom too.”

“We’re sophomores.” Kitty pointed out.  “Like I said we’ll have plenty of opportunities to go.  Actually double our chances since we’re now on somewhat okay terms with Dalton and they have to import all their girls for dances.”

“It’s really cute how you try to convince everyone that you don’t really like Artie by talking about Dalton.” Marley smiled as she threw a cookie in Kitty’s direction. “Adorable even.”

“Shut up.” Kitty said as she threw the cookie right back.  “And besides, if you wanted to leave,  it would served that bitch right to have the rest of prom cancelled because of her.  We probably should have done it after you took that crown anyway.”

“And how would that have cancelled the prom?”

“Because we were the entertainment.” Kitty pointed out, shoving her hair behind her ears.  “And where we lead, the jazz band follows.  Or at least they better if they know what’s good for them.  And since Mr.Schue was in charge of the entertainment committee, what are the odds he remembered to hire a DJ for band breaks?”

“I have better odds of making Blaine forget all about Kurt and run away with me.” Unique adjusted her bangs with a practiced flip of her wrist.  

“That’s  a strangely specific example.” Kitty said as she straightened herself, adjusting her pink sleep shirt.  “Something to share with the class Unique?”

“Like you’re one to talk, Miss Thing?  Our Most Royal Prom Queen here is not the only one who flirts with Blaine constantly during performances.”  

“One- I only flirt with Arthur during performances and two - Blaine flirts with _me_ . Major differences.”  

“Blaine’s flirted with everyone in the choir room including Mrs. Schue.  And we’ve all flirted back. Including Mrs. Schue.” Marley laughed.  “No need to deny the facts, Kitty. I’m pretty sure Artie doesn’t care. I’ll admit it. When I first joined I may have had a bit of a crush on him. ”

“Yeah the near-constant Bambi eyes you gave him weren’t a clue to that or anything.” Kitty said with a giggle, throwing her pillow in Marley’s direction before pointing her finger towards Unique.  “And don’t think I forgot the reason why you suggested _Moulin Rouge_ for our movie week song.  I saw those conversations between Blaine and Kurt you liked.”

“Which means you, Miss Kitty Wilde, Facebook-stalked him so where does that leave you hmm?” Unique tilted her head.  

“He’s gay, but I’m not blind.” Kitty shrugged.

“When you decided to speak the truth, you speak it.” Unique nodded.  “Tina honey, we may not have sung to him, but girl we all felt you.”

“Wouldn’t it have been so much easier to get over it if he had been a jerk about the whole thing?” Marley wondered pulling hair back into a ponytail.

“That’s exactly what I told him!” Tina started to yell but then remembered Mrs. Rose sleeping upstairs.  “And you know what he said?   _Why would I be a jerk about that? Everyone gets crushes, Tina_.”

“Oh of course. A  perfect response.” Kitty threw up her hands.  “Completely annoying.  Why do we waste our time on him?”

“Because he’s cute, sweet and doesn’t find fart jokes hilarious?”  Marely offered.  

“Did you hear that stupid one Ryder was telling all night?” Tina asked with an eyeroll.   

“Only a million times,” Marley replied.  “I finally had to tell Jake if he wanted to hear it again, he and Ryder could become dates and I would become a third wheel with Unique and Blaine.”

“You would do no such thing!” Unique protested.  “I finally get some one-on-one time with him and you were going to make yourself a third wheel.  That violates so many rules of the best friend code I can’t even start.”

“But would staying up all night after prom restore me to best friend status?” Marley pleaded.  

“It would be a start.” Unique huffed.

It was then that Tina’s phone buzzed next to her leg.  Seeing Blaine’s name pop up on the text notification screen, she smiled as she read this message.  “Blaine says Sam is pushing for The Bosom Bunch for our gang name. He’s trying to talk him out of it.”

“And _that’s_ why we all flirt with Blaine.” Kitty declared with a shake of her head as all four of them collapses into giggles.  “Now can we also talk about starting a petition for Blonde Chameleon to change his name to Romance Novel Hair Boy because seriously.”

******

“I don’t think I’ve ever stayed up all night to see the sunrise before.”  Tina snuggled further under the dark green blanket that was currently covering herself and Kitty as they sat on the steps of the Rose home.  Unique and Marley sat together under a blue blanket on the porch swing, Marley’s head resting on Unique’s shoulder.  “A night of firsts.”

“Aren’t you supposed to make a wish on the sunrise?” Marley wondered with a yawn.

“That’s a shooting star.” Kitty corrected, the usual bite in her voice long since vanished.  “Someone should have gone to bed.”

“No, I want to stay up” Marley argued, as she tried to sit up straighter.  “And who says you can’t wish on a sunrise.  Someone had to start wishing on stars. Why can’t we wish on sunrises?”

“It is original. And you know how much I love that.” Unique pushed Marley’s head back down on her shoulder. “I’ll wish on this sunrise with you.  No, don’t move.  It’s warmer like this.”

“I’ll do it too. It sounds fun.” Tina nudged Kitty with her elbow with a smile.  

“Fine I’ll do it if you are going to do it.” Kitty sighed dramatically.  “But we aren’t telling anyone.”

“Of course we aren’t telling our wishes. Then they don’t come true.” Marley’s voice was barely above a whisper.

“Not the wishes Epione.  That we’re wishing on a sunrise.  That stays between us.  It’s silly and if we are going to destroy the Wicked Bitch of the Cheerios we cannot be seen as silly.”

“Can four people keep a secret?” Unique sighed.

“I have faith in us. We are awesome after all.”  Marley pushed the swing just enough to tap Kitty in the back with her foot.  “Don’t you have faith in us?”

“I have faith you’re going to fall asleep before we even see the sun.” Kitty looked over her shoulder to stick her tongue out.  

Tina looked out over the yard, the sky just beginning to lighten.  She had such a different vision of how this night was going to end when she woke up this morning.  She was going to be crowned prom queen and finally, finally her senior year would be exactly what she had thought it would be.  She would have gotten that crown, been asked to dance by every single guy in the school.  She would be noticed.  Finally when it was time to be chosen her name would be called first instead of last.

Her name had been called first.  She had danced every slow dance.  She had been surrounded by friends who refused to make her night anything other than special. And now she was watching the sunrise with three girls who were completely serious about getting back at the person responsible for her prank.  

Senior prom wasn’t what she imagined, but in so many ways it had been so much better.

“Sunrise sisters.” Tina exclaimed, nearly shoving Kitty off the step in her excitement.  “The Sunrise Sisters.”

“Is that the name of Santana’s lesbian folk duo?” Kitty wondered.

“No. It’s our name.  For the four of us.  We can call ourselves The SS to inspire fear but we’ll know what it means.  The Sunrise Sisters.”

Marley looked over at Unique before smiling and nodding excitedly.  “It sounds like a truly excellent girl group from the Motown era.  I’m in.” Unique nodded.

“It’s lame but it’s 100% better than anything Sam is going to come up with.” Kitty said slowly.  “As long as we never tell anyone what it actually means fine.  I like it.”

“Good.” Marley nodded, trying not to yawn again. “Now who’s going to design the t-shirts?”

“T-shirts?” Kitty shook her head. “You become delusional when you have no sleep. We aren’t getting T-shirts.”

“All gangs have T-shirts. Or jackets.   _Grease_ said so.”  

“Oh well if _Grease_ said so.”  

“Exactly. So we’re getting T-shirts.”

“If we’re getting T-shirts I’m designing them.” Unique raised her hand.  “I promise that you will all look as fabulous as me.”

**  
**Tina giggled, as she noticed the sky just starting to turn pink.  “Come on members of The SS.  Let’s make some wishes.”


End file.
